Customer Reviews

Proudly We Can Be Africans: Black Americans and Africa, 1935-1961

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Perhaps more than any other region of the world American's image of Africa has changed with time. This book traces the changes in perception and engagement with Africa of the African American community between the years 1931 and 1963. While the book covers a rather short portion of the time that the U.S. has been involved in Africa it chooses the years in which the perception of Africa changes the most in the black community. Using the black press, and speeches by prominent Blacks leaders, James Meriweather contrasts the invasion of Ethiopia in 1931 and the Independence of Kenya, Ghana and the Congo in the early 60's to contrast the changing attitudes toward Africa and how it informed African American's perception of themselves.
The author does a good job of pulling together events in both the Americas and the various parts of Africa and explaining how they influenced and related each other. He also avoids any simplistic explanation of black attitudes and delves into the complexities of this ongoing relationship. Especially poignant is author Richard Wright's journey to reconnect with his perceived homeland and the ultimately otherness he starts to feel on this journey of discovery. The desire to belong is in conflict with the feeling of the exotic and unfamiliar that Wright gets on his trip through west Africa. In many ways this is the experience of the larger Black community faces and must deal with. An excellent book that sheds light on a very interesting topic.